Manufacturing Jobs Declining For Seven Months

Manufacturing jobs have been declining for
the past seven months, showing the sector desperately needs
a hands-on government willing to take action to create jobs,
says Labour’s Finance spokesperson David Parker.

“National’s economy isn’t working for ordinary New
Zealanders and nowhere is that more clear than in
manufacturing. The Performance of Manufacturing Index is
stagnating, in keeping with the trend of 2012.

“The
manufacturing jobs index has been negative for the past
seven months. There are 175,000 New Zealanders looking for
work, many of whom lost their jobs from manufacturing
company closures last year.

“The problems are especially
bad for manufacturers not in the primary sector, many of
whom are struggling to survive.

“National refuses to
take action on manufacturing and John Key doesn’t even
acknowledge there’s a problem. They’ve left that up to
Labour and our fellow opposition parties to set up the
Manufacturing Inquiry that begins hearings on solutions on
Monday.

“A strong manufacturing sector creates good
jobs that pay good wages. That’s something Kiwis
desperately need. It also boosts exports. That reduces the
staggering $10 billion gap between what we buy and what we
sell offshore that we as a country need to
close.

“Modern manufacturing using new technology is the
future for better jobs, more exports and higher incomes. The
only people who don’t understand this are John Key, Bill
English and Steven
Joyce.”

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